The Time Traveler
The Time Traveler, also known as Denton Morris, Moses, Sir William Reynolds, and other names, is a scientist who is the inventor of The Time Machine. He's also a temporal explorer, using his time machine to explore different times and realities. History Early Life As a young man, The Time Traveler, who at the time called himself "Moses", was a disorganized scientist, whose interests had him following optics. He was approached by a man named Gottfried Plattner, who offered him a mysterious substance called Plattnerite. With this material, he was able to start looking into the construction of a working Time Machine. ("The Time Ships") According to another account, the substance was found in a meteorite, which the Time Traveler purchased from a farmer. ("The Wee Time Traveler") :This discrepancy is likely due to temporal alterations or two separate time streams. This is especially likely since the one described in The Time Ships is a time loop, with no known origin of the material. He was one of the most well-known scientists in England, as of 1893. He owned a Horseless Carriage, and had set a speed record of just over 17 miles per hour. His apprentice was A. Fitzgibbon, of whom he had legal guardianship after the death of her parents. ("The Space Machine") He had also invented a number of other machines, powered by the same crystaline substance. He had a failed Flying Machine, which would fly by flapping its wings like a bird, as well as a mechanical bicycle, which was a success but which he'd chosen not to release to the public. ("The Space Machine") Invention of the Time Machine The Time Traveler was able to assemble a complex machine using the plattnerite. Upon its completion, he arranged a get-together with some of his friends to discuss the invention the following evening. However, before that time, he tested the machine, taking it all the way forward into the year 802,701 AD. ("The Time Machine") Morlocks & Eloi In that year, he explored the future world that at first seemed paradisaical to him. He soon encountered the playful Eloi, a humanoid species descended from modern-day man. He imagined them to be quiet masters of the world, having perfected technology so that they needn't do any work. However, he soon discovered that his Time Machine had gone missing, and the Eloi seemed ignorant. After further exploration, he soon encountered the Morlocks, subterranean nocturnal creatures, also descended from humans, who fed, dressed, and later ate the Eloi. The Time Traveler befriended Weena, an eloi girl who accompanied him on many of his explorations across the world. Unfortunately, in the end, he was unable to protect her from the Morlocks, who made off with her in the forest. Finally, the Time Traveler discovered his machine, which the Morlocks were using as bait to get him into the Morlock Sphinx. The Time Traveler took the bait, knowing he could dematerialize the machine by traveling in time. Although the Morlocks ambushed him as he boarded the machine, he was able to fight them off and travel into the future. ("The Time Machine") Far Future He proceeded further into the future, seeing new animal forms, such as hairy, grey mammals which he theorized might have been descendants of the Eloi. These creatures were preyed on by a gigantic centipede-like creature. ("The Grey Man") In another era, he saw a race of red crab-like creatures pursuing giant mammalian butterflies. Finally, he witnessed one side of the Earth come to face the sun, with no more day and night cycle. As the Earth's atmosphere thinned, The Time Traveler could go no further and decided to return to his own time, where he recounted his adventures to his friends at the dinner party. Shortly thereafter, he decided to return to the future to find and rescue Weena; he was never seen again by his friends. ("The Time Machine") Morlocks of the Sphere When the Time Traveler boarded the Time Machine again, this time more prepared, having brought along matches and supplies and tools, he discovered that something had changed. As he traveled through time, he saw the sun go dark long before the world of the Eloi and the Morlocks. Stopping at an earlier era, he investigated the year 657,209. There, the sun was dark and the Earth was kept warm by heat eminating from a series of vents that resembled the Morlock Wells he'd seen in his previous voyage to futurity. He was soon surrounded by several Morlocks, and bashed one of them in the head, causing severe injury. He was then subdued and taken into custody aboard a massive Morlock Sphere surrounding the sun, which was the new primary habitat for Humanity. There, he was questioned by one Morlock who identified himself as Nebogipfel. Nebogipfel soon made it clear that the Morlocks of this era were a civilized species who certainly didn't make a habit of cannibalism. Nebogipfel gave the Time Traveler a tour of the future world, after which The Time Traveler decided he could never live in this future and attempted escape. With Nebogipfel, he returned to Earth, where he jumped onto the Time Machine and escaped. Nebogipfel, who tried to stop him, fell onto the machine in the struggle and was taken, too. He thus reluctantly became the Time Traveler's new companion. ("The Time Ships") Return to the Past The two returned to the 19th century, though slightly earlier than the Time Traveler's time. There, they met a younger version of the Time Traveler, who used the name Moses. Soon after their meeting, a Time Tank appeared from the future and abducted the three time travelers. They were all taken to a future in which World War I had never ended and was becoming a perpetual war, devastating every country in the world. London was covered by a massive, bomb-proof dome. However, the three time travelers planned their escape from this dark era. Finally, they found a prototype Time Car and stole it. Moses didn't survive, however, having been mortally wounded in an attack on the city. He didn't make it to the time car. The two travelers then went much farther into the past. ("The Time Ships") Prehistoric Times They then went back in time to far before the rise of Humans. There, they met the inhabitants of a crashed Time Tank from the era they'd just come from. The vehicle was unusable, and everyone was trapped in this era. They all formed a new colony of Humans, with Nebogipfel teaching science to accelerate the colony's development. Finally, he was able to repair the Time Car, using components from both wrecked time machines. He and the Time Traveler finally left that era, after the Time Traveler made one last contribution - by having sex with one of the women in the colony, he added to the tiny gene pool. Then, they traveled forward in time to see what had become of the human colony they'd planted far in the past. ("The Time Ships") A Changed Home The Time Traveler decided to return to his home era, the 1890s, to see what it would look like in this alternate reality created by the colony they'd planted in the past. However, as they approached, the atmosphere became cold and unlivable. The Time Traveler died, as did Nebogipfel, before the Time Machine stopped. There, a race of highly advanced machines called the Universal Constructors had repaired the damage to the Time Traveler and Nebogipfel, cell by cell. They accommodated the two, who soon learned that the Universal Constructors are made of nanobots, all cooperating with one another. They planned to build a fleet of time ships to explore beyond the local set of realities. They invited the Time Traveler aboard the fleet due to his historical significance. To survive the journey, both men had to be converted into Universal Constructors. Then, the ships traveled back through time, beyond the beginning of the univers, to find another universe- an infinite one. In that universe, they were able to form a sentience that filled that entire universe. The Time Traveler and Nebogipfel were witness to this, before the sentient universe returned him to his own timeline. ("The Time Ships") Return and Weena's Rescue There, he met himself in the past, and, calling himself Gottfried Plattner, gave his younger self the Plattnerite, thus causing a time loop in his history. He then decided not to return to his own age and instead went forward to 802,701 to complete his original mission. There, he rescued Weena and went about teaching the Eloi to build a new civilization. He finally got up the courage to descend into the Morlock tunnels to try and help them, as well. No account exists of his return. ("The Time Ships") An alternate account of these events has him stopping first in the 33rd Century to upgrade his time machine into a Time Ship that can fly through the air. Using this machine, he appeared at the exact right moment after the blaze, hovering over the scene, and recovering Weena at precisely the right moment, before taking her back to live in the 33rd century. ("Beyond the Time Machine") In another alternate account of Weena's rescue, the Time Traveler arrives after stopping in the 40th Century for supplies. He arrives slightly early, and his arrival attracts Weena's attention, who was sleeping alongside the Time Traveler but sensed the other Time Traveler's presence telepathically. After exploring the landscape further, Weena allowed the Star in the Dusk, a library computer, to download itself into her brain. After this was done, the two settled down in the 40th Century, hoping to create a new timeline in which humanity never degrades into Eloi and Morlock. ("The Time Machine: A Sequel") Lonn :The events of this continuity follow his rescue of Weena as seen in Beyond the Time Machine, and do not appear to match up with the accounts of other sources, such as The Time Machine: A Sequel, in which he settles with Weena in the 40th century rather than the 33rd. Therefore, it is likely a separate timeline from The Time Traveler's perspective. The Time Traveler, now going by the name of Denton Morris, had five children with Weena: two sons, and three daughters, Narra Morris, Tala Morris, and Belinda Morris. They began raising the children in 33rd century Lonn, where the half-Eloi children suffered from discrimination. This lead to Tala's suicide and Narra extensively partook in Geneing and in 20th century drugs, leading to serious health issues. The two sons also went missing. ("Beyond the Time Machine") Alternate Versions In alternate continuities and timelines, The Time Traveler has many separate histories. For detailed biographies of these see their full articles. In The Time Machine (1960) : Full article: ''George '''George' was an inventor and time traveler who built a time machine and then visited the far future with it. He met and fell in love with Weena, and taught her and the rest of the Eloi how to fight back against the cannibalistic Morlocks. ("The Time Machine") In The Time Machine ''(1978) : ''Full article: Neil Perry Neil Perry was a scientist working for a corrupt corporation who was able to construct a time machine. However, when he realized the company intended to use the machine for war, he stole it, fleeing into the distant future to see the outcome of his invention. ("The Time Machine") In The Time Machine ''(2002) : ''Full article: ''Alexander Hartdegen '''Alexander Hartdegen '''was a scientist & inventor who built a time machine, hoping to go back in time and save his dead fiance. He failed in that regard, but managed to visit the far future, where he met Mara and the Eloi. ("The Time Machine") Other continuities *James Radnor (Morlocks film) *Moses (The Time Ships) *George Einwin (The Time Machine: Trapped in Time) *H.G. Wells (Various) True Name The Time Traveler's real name was never given in the original novel, and so various adaptations have given him many different names. In Continuity Sources that try to maintain continuity with the original novel have given him the following names: *Moses (last name unknown, The Time Ships) *Denton Morris (Beyond the Time Machine, Tangles in Time) *Sir William Reynolds (The Space Machine) *Adam Dane (The Rook) *Bruce Clarke Wildman (Doc Savage: His Apocalyptic Life) *Robert James Pensley (The Hertford Manuscript) *Theophillus Tolliver (Doctor Who: "The Eternal Present") *Moesen Maddoc (Sherlock Holmes & The Coils of Time) Other Continuities Alternate versions of the time traveler include: *George (last name unknown, 1960s film) *H.G. Wells (Lois & Clark, Time After Time, etc) *Alexander Hartdegen (2002 film) *Tom Spender (Time Kid) ''In "Time Kid", the character of the Time Traveler is split into two characters: the father, who invents the Time Machine, ''and the son, Tom Spender, who uses it to visit the future. *Dr. James Radnor (Morlocks) Gallery In the Novels Time-machine-h-g-wells-book-cover-art.jpg Timemachine 5.jpg Timemachine 4.jpeg 200px-The_Time_Machine_Classics_Illustrated_133.jpg|The Time Traveler ''Classics Illustrated Comics In other media george.jpg|George The Time Machine Time Traveler wishbone.jpg|Wishbone (As "The Time Traveler) Wishbone 2002 Time Traveler.jpg|Alexander Hartdegen The Time Machine Tom Spender.jpg|Tom Spender Time Kid James Radnor closeup.jpg|Dr. James Radnor Morlocks Category:Time Travelers Category:Scientists Category:Characters